World music and cinema label Mr Bongo choose their top 20 Brazilian bangers.

A summer of Brazilian music at The Vinyl Factory continues with Graham Luckhurst of Mr Bongo picking twenty of his favourite Brazilian bombshells. Following the release of Mr Bongo’s new documentary on the revolutionary Tropicália movement and our subsequent interview with the legendary Tom Zé, we asked the label to compile a summertime playlist, complete with the records from which they were harvested, for the ultimate introduction to Brazilian music. From breezy bossa to sweltering boogie funk, let Mr Bongo take you there, in no particular order…

1. Claudia
“Deixa Eu Dizer” from Deixa Eu Dizer
(Odeon, 1973)

Equally as lush and warm as it is rare. Incredible stuff from Claudia, sampled by Marcelo D2 on his hip hop killer Desabafo.

2. Antonio Adolfo
“Cascavel” from Viralata
(Artezanal, 1979)

Drums, bass and heavy rhodes leading into a rich, joyous horn arrangement. Brazilian Jazz at its finest.

This Verocai is in my top 3 must own Brazilian LP’s. An unbelievable masterpiece of instrumentation and arrangement.

6. Célia
“Na Boca do Sol” from Célia
(Continental, 1972)

Celia’s take on this one set’s it off in a different, jazzier direction, with an interesting lead fuzz-guitar intro addition.

7. Jorge Ben
“Pula Baú” from Sacundin Ben Samba
(Philips, 1964)

Sacundin Ben Samba is my favourite Ben live recording, in fact it’s up there with my favourite live albums of all time. Unbelievably big sound. The horns – and vibe in general – in this one drift into John Klemmer ‘Free Soul’ esque territory.

8. Azymuth
“Manha” from Azymuth
(Som Livre, 1975)

Immensely warm, lush fusion awash with synths and cuica. Taken from their must own self-titled LP from 1975.

9. Wilson Simonal
“Que Pena” from Mexico 70
(EMI Brazil, 1970)

Dancefloor slayer, piano, horns, percussion, Wilson’s vocal… Wonder how you fit it all in. Taken from his classic Mexico 70 LP.